Legend of Zelda: The Rift
by Kiki O'Loplop
Summary: Ganondorf's latest attempt at freedom tears a whole through the fabric of space right in Link's front yard. With Zelda's help, he must fight what he can't touch to stop Ganon from stepping through to Hyrule.
1. Long Overdue

_**Author's Notes**_

_So this got kind of out of hand. I originally intended to just write a short little thing, a bit of historical background for my new Legend of Zelda fancomic I'm working on, which I'll provide a link to once I have anything posted._

_For those who are wondering, this takes place in the distant future after Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Zelda and Link's personalities may also have been slightly lifted from Rose Zemlya's _The Return _and_ Reconciliation. _If you like what you read here, go check her out. She writes ten times better than I do._

**- Chapter One: Long Overdue -**

"Master Link! Master Link!" The door to my bedchamber bursts open and Fado, my faithful manservant, tumbles inside. "Master Link! You're going to be la- … oh. M-my apologies." Bowing slightly, he quickly retreats. After all, I'm just packing the last of my things, clearly ready to go.

I chuckle. It's always the same with him. He takes his job very seriously, looking after the Hero of Time. Zelda had meant looking after my affairs of course, but he misinterpreted the instruction to include my person as well. I kind of feel bad for him, in a way. Every morning he tries to be first to rise, so he can greet me in bed with breakfast. Which is annoying, because I'd rather get in a few ours of training before I eat anything. But then Fado would end up bobbing around the nearby forest looking for me with a tray in hand and get lost. So I've taken to sneaking off even earlier and returning to bed before he wakes, so he can serve me breakfast and never know I've been up for hours already. Zel once remarked the whole thing is quite silly. I think I'd have to agree.

"Fado, come back," I call after him. He sheepishly appears in the doorway. "Why don't you take this down and get Chestnut saddled up?" I toss my saddle bag to him.

"Yes, yes, right away!" And he scuttles off down the hall.

I pick up the Master Sword and sling it over my shoulder. Glancing around the room, I figure I have everything. And if I don't, well I _will_ be at Hyrule Castle. I can't imagine they wouldn't be able to help a fellow out. I head downstairs and outside to the courtyard.

It's not a big courtyard, obviously, but it has always felt larger than necessary for the small castle I live in. If you can even call it a castle. More like a stone mansion with too thick of walls and too high of ramparts. I cheerily greet the guards circling the perimeter. They just give me kurt nods in return. Another bunch who take their job maybe a little too seriously.

Fado appears, leading my horse. He fidgets with the reigns before handing them over, the way he usually fidgets when he has something to say that he's deemed possibly inappropriate.

"Yes Fado? Something on your mind?"

He keeps his eyes downcast as he answers. "I just… worry, Sir. Just want everything to go smoothly. Shouldn't be late to see the Queen." He looks up quickly, to see if he's offended me somehow.

I just pat him on the head. "You worry too much sometimes. Besides," I say, winking at him, "I'm late on purpose. Makes my company all the more desired." He smiles slightly and laughs, as if I just made a bad attempt at a joke.

Fado holds the stirrups still for me as I swing into the saddle, even though he doesn't really need to. With a last wave, I ride out through the gates and on up the road. I hear the guards close, lock, and bolt the gate behind me. Even with me gone, there are still priceless magical artifacts and weapons that they need to protect. Or at least that's what I told them, to keep them from escorting me everywhere. A lot of the "artifacts" are just junk I picked up on my last moblin raid. Really. I'm the _Hero of Time_. Like I can't handle a simple hour's ride through open country.

It proves to be an uneventful trip. At one point I think I spy a bandit disappearing into the fields around me and hope that he's smart enough not to bring his buddies back. On several occasions I've given a good beating to the little gang that likes to haunt this road. You think they would have learned by now.

Soon enough I'm riding through Castle Town, greeting people whose names I can't remember. At the castle gates, my horse is led off to the stables and I'm escorted up to the actual castle itself. The whole way some old man is reprimanding me for being an hour late and telling me that the Queen has taken her supper without me. Once inside, I make my way through the maze of corridors to the Queen's chamber.

But when I get there, the guard outside informs me that since I made her Majesty wait an hour, she's going to make me wait an hour too. Hmm, maybe Fado was right. Ignoring the guard, I brush past and push open the door.

Zelda, the beloved Queen of Hyrule, sits at a desk across from the door. "Not now, Mable, I'm busy," she states, without even looking up. I close the door and use all my Sheikhan skills to tiptoe across her carpets until I'm standing behind her. I toss my riding gloves onto whatever it is she's scribbling on and begin to massage her shoulders. A frustrated sigh escapes her.

"Glad to see you too," I say as I lean down and kiss her cheek. She sits rigid for a moment, refusing to acknowledge my arrival. But she knows just as well as I that she can't stay mad at me for long. Especially not with my secret weapon. "If you kick off those brutal things you call shoes, I'll do your feet next."

That does the trick. She turns to me and even though she still wears a scowl, I can see in her eyes she's glad I'm finally here. We exchange a long, deep kiss. It's been almost two months since we saw each other. You'd think the only two sane people who possess a piece of the Triforce would have more contact than that, but every now and again fate conspires against us. Actually, as it rule it does. Zelda sat in Hyrule Castle while I rooted out the moblin's who were establishing a foothold near Kakariko. By the time I'd returned, Zelda had already been called away to help negotiate Hylian boat passage through Zora's Domain. Honestly, I don't understand why she bothers appointing ambassadors when she's the only one able to get the other party to sit calmly at the table.

That's one of the reasons I love her so much, though. She's the only woman, nay, the only _person_ I've met that I feel completely at peace with. Just being near her calms whatever turmoil boils inside me.

We move over to her massive bed. She lays down on it, dangling her feet over the edge. I sit on the floor and work my magic.

"So, how are things going?" I ask. And it's awhile before I have to say anything again. At first she's distracted by the little things, complaining about a noblemen or some silly incident in town. But pretty soon she's grumbling about the state of affairs among the other peoples of Hyrule. I tune most of it out as I work my way up her calves. But I've also heard most of it before. Gorons and Zoras are becoming endangered species and for some reason won't let us help them.

At some point she rolls over and I move up to the bed so I can massage her lower back. She's insanely tense, probably because we've been apart so long. I start to pay attention again when she talks about how the negotiations went. But I don't really need to, I've already guessed correctly. They refused to accept tribute fees from the passing boats, seeing it as pity money. It's their problem, they'll deal with it. Zelda knows they respect her simply because of her status as the Bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom, but it's not enough. They couldn't keep the bitter anger out of their voices even when they talked to her.

"Well, they're perfectly capable of taking care of themselves," I gently remind her. "They've done so for thousands of years, surviving the worst Ganondorf had to throw at them. I imagine it's pretty insulting the way we're trying to spoon feed them."

"But that's just it," She says, rolling over to face me. "They can't anymore. Link, you haven't seen their villages, you don't know how bad it is. The children I saw… it had been days since they'd eaten. The elders are barely old enough to be my parents."

She covers her eyes with an arm and know she's about the cry. I feel helpless. I can't help her with this. Nayru knows I'd only make things worse if I tried to talk some sense into them. And while the rest of Hyrule has finally given up, I know she won't. She can't. She honestly cares about them.

"It's like the Kokiri all over again."

"That's not true," I answer without missing a beat.

She moves her arm away to glare at me. The tears haven't rolled down her cheeks yet, but they are there, floating in her eyes. I move to cradle her head in my lap. She curls towards me.

"Well I'm right. The Kokiri have that big tree watching over them or whatever. And the fairies. They're in good hands. They never needed Hylians and never will. Just because no one's seen or heard from them in a hundred years doesn't mean they're gone."

"Oh, so it's worse now, is that what you're saying?" Her voice cracks and I feel the tears soaking through my tunic.

I guess that is what I'm saying. But I can't tell her that. I pull her closer to me as I think of a better answer. "No, I'm saying that this is different, that's all," I begin slowly. "The Kokiri may be beyond your help, but they never needed it. The Gorons and the Zoras are still here. Time and time again you've offered your help to them. They'll remember that before the end. And then you can swoop in with all your relief volunteers and save the day, like you always do."

She chuckles halfheartedly. "You make it sound so heroic."

"Well I am a hero, honey, it's how I do."

We're quiet for awhile, both thinking about what I said. Even though I was just trying to make her feel better, there might actually be some truth to it. When she finally sits up and wipes away the tears, I see her hair is all messed up. Wordlessly I find her brush and began to work out the snarls. She bats my hands away.

"By Farore, if my father were here he'd wonder what kind of hero you are. Waiting on me hand and foot like this. I can brush my own hair you know."

I open my mouth, some smart retort ready on my tongue, but I don't get that far. We're both distracted by the sudden pounding of many feet out in the hall. Zelda's on her feet suddenly, her composure completely intact. The door opens and I recognize the Captain of the Guard as he steps into the room. "There's… been an incident." He looks directly at me, like I have something to do with it. It's a well known fact he doesn't like me. I break all of the rules he sets, after all.

"Well?" Zelda demands, every bit the queen I know. In answer, the guards in the hall drag forward a young man. I know for a fact that Zel doesn't deal with this kind of stuff in her bedroom, especially not this late. But then I get a look at the boy's face and realize I kind of know who he is. It's the bandit I saw in the field earlier today. His clothes are all torn up and I can see gashes and scrapes covering his skin, exposed or not.

"What happened to him? You didn't do this to him, did you?" I ask, reaching forward to help him stand better.

The Captain raises an eyebrow at me. "Do you know this boy?"

"I've trounced his gang on more than one occasion, so I suppose so."

"Then you admit he's an enemy of yours."

"Enemy's a pretty harsh word. More like local delinquent."

"Stop!" We fall silent as Zelda walks over to the boy and lifts his face gently in her hand. He recoils in fear.

"What happened to you?" She asks him directly. He swallows nervously a few times. Then he looks past her at me. It's hard to decide what I see in his eyes. A mixture of fear, loathing and hope. Then finally he answers.

"I don't know. It all happened so fast."

He pauses. The Captain nudges him none too gently, causing him to wince. "Tell the Queen what you told me."

"When I saw you riding," he nods towards me, "I knew you'd be gone this evening at least. It was our chance. It didn't take us long to get organized and move on your castle."

"Chance to do what?" Zelda interjects.

He looks back at her, fear taking over in his face. I try to put myself in his shoes for a second. As a small time thief, meeting the be-all-end-all of justice face to face would be pretty terrifying.

"Erm, well to steal. Who knows what treasures lie in his vaults," he admits. I bet he was eavesdropping when I was explaining why my guards needed to stay at the castle. Well, jokes on them.

Zelda nods, but doesn't otherwise react. It seems to give him courage, so he continues. "Anyway, our plan was, uh, great. I mean we tricked the guards but didn't really hurt anyone." I can tell he's sugar coating for Zel's benefit. I bet it was a pretty gruesome battle. But I can't imagine my well trained little army losing to such a ragtag bunch of ruffians. I also don't see how him admitting to assaulting my property makes me the bad guy, as the Captain seemed to be implying.

"But then it got weird. The air… changed. I don't know how to explain it any other way. It got heavy, like it was trying to pin us to the ground. I was standing in the gateway when… when…" He's sweating at this point, looking nervously from Zelda to me.

I'm feeling pretty nervous myself. What is he talking about? "When what?" I prompt impatiently.

He takes a deep breath. "When the wind started blowing us away. Only it was like it was full of shards of glass and blowing us towards the middle of the courtyard. I managed to get around to the outside of the wall, but it didn't seem much better there. The wind still sliced at me. I heard screaming from inside. Then it stopped. When I looked… there was this hole. And everyone was gone."

The room falls silent. The boy sags to the floor, just blankly staring at me. Zelda's eyes are leagues away. The Captain watches me intently, waiting for my reaction. But I don't have one. A hole? What did he mean by that? A hole where? In the wall? But how could wind do that?

Zelda finally comes back from her thoughts, glancing over at the the Captain. As if she asked him something, he states, "Well isn't it obvious? What the boy describes is clearly an act of magic. And the only person capable of such who was anywhere near the incident is none other than the _Hero_." He points an accusing finger at me. "If you're having problems with bandits, you should let the authorities handle it."

"Hey Zel," I say, ignoring the Captain who I kind of want to punch in the face and simultaneously destroying the serious atmosphere with my informal remark. "I bet you the entire Hylian Treasury that a certain friend of ours is poking his ugly head out of his hidey-hole again. Took him long enough."

"No," is all she says.

"What?" I notice the Captain looks elated for a moment.

Then she turns to face me and there's a smile playing around her lips. "And bankrupt the kingdom? I think not. No, I won't take your bet." The smile fades as she turns back to the Captain. "Assemble your men. We ride for Hero's Castle in less than an hour."

"Your Majesty?" He asks questioningly, clearly not grasping the situation.

"You forgot about someone, dumb-skull," I tell him. He glowers at me. "Why would I kill my own men? No, this is the work of a much better mage. A black mage. Ganondorf." The color drains from the Captain's face at the mention of the Dark King's name. Silently, his little party removes themselves from their Queen's presence.

As I help Zelda into her armor and we prepare to face our age old enemy, I can only think about what would have happened if I had just let the guards escort me. How many lives would I have saved if I hadn't let my pride get in the way? And Fado. You better have been slacking off in the kitchen instead of trimming the grass or something stupid.


	2. Adding Fuel to the Fire

_**Author's Notes**_

_For your information, all the lovely-dovey ends here. And yes, the Captain has a name._

**- Chapter Two: Adding Fuel to the Fire -**

When we reach my little castle, it's clear Zelda and I were right. Where no one else would notice, the reek of black magic almost overpowers my senses. The hole itself is not in the wall, like I thought. Nor the ground, as Zel thought. It hangs in the air, like the gaping maw of some beast. I stare at it for a few moments and am rewarded with a headache when I try to decipher where its edges are. Looking into it, I can't actually see anything. But I feel like I can, terrible shapes lurking in the darkness. A sense of dread that has nothing to do with Ganon or black magic creeps over me.

"Is that… the Dark World?" the Captain asks in a hushed voice.

It takes me a moment to realize he's talking to me. "Yes. Wonderful, isn't it?" He shudders.

The ground around the hole, or the rift as Zelda has started calling it, shows clear signs of the slicing wind the boy spoke of. Bending down, I can see the obvious depressions in the grass where the men were when they tried to run. There's two, maybe three footprints for each pair of boots. It kind of looks like he was telling the truth when he said they hurt no one. They didn't even get the chance to attack. I glance worriedly up at the silent castle. A score of guards are sweeping it for any survivors but haven't reported their findings yet. There will obviously be several, I'm just worried Fado might not be among them. His duties to me did not include dying for me, unlike the guards.

I turn my attention back to the rift. Besides the reek it gives off and the headache it induces, it seems to be quite harmless actually. "Well good news. It's a just hole in the fabric of space," I announce as I straighten. My comment earns me a few hateful glances from the other soldiers still outside with us. I realize with a pang of guilt that my own guards who died here were probably friends and family to them.

Zelda comes to my aid, perhaps unknowingly. "Yes, I think you're right. Whatever happened here, it's done with now. We're not being sucked in and nothing's coming out." She's standing directly in front of it, carefully examining it without quite looking at it.

"But it's getting bigger," one of the guards comments distractedly. He's done nothing but stare at it since we arrived. I'm surprised the headache he must be suffering from hasn't made him pass out yet.

The Captain marches over to him and shakes him a little, jarring him from his trance. "Don't be absurd, Balik. How could you even tell?"

Everyone looks back at the hole. It's true, I can't begin to figure out where the edges are. It blurs so much with this world it's hard to say that it's even fully a hole yet. As my head starts to pound again, I begin to look away. But then something catches my eye. Something inside the rift, the first something I've actually seen. It's a hand, I think, reaching… reaching for what?

And then it distinctly reaches right through the hole, wrapping its fingers in Zelda's surcoat. As it begins to pull backwards, and Zelda notices it with a yelp, I'm already dashing forward, Master Sword gleaming in my hand. It has almost completely retreated back into the rift as I swing the sword down, severing the fingers of its iron grip. Even though I was careful not to touch it, I can feel my sword has made contact with the hole somehow. I watch in horror as I actually tear the rift open further. Someone grabs me from behind and pulls me away as the hole visibly expands. For a moment, I can see the edges. It's huge, almost ten feet high and maybe seven feet across. The surface is like glass and reflects me back at myself. Only I'm twisted somehow, a snarl clear on my dark face even though I know my real face is probably gaping in shock. The reflection of my left hand, my sword hand, is empty. Several fingers are missing. And then everything blurs again and I stumble into whoever saved me.

"Ow! Ouch! Get off!" The Captain wiggles out from underneath me and indignantly brushes himself off. "By Din, if you're going to be such an ogre, maybe I should have just let it swallow you."

I barely hear him though. I'm still staring at the rift. "Did you see that?"

The Captain grunts as he tries to pull me to my feet. "Yeah. Better keep that sword of yours away from the hole. Wouldn't want it getting any bigger." I stagger towards the rift when he finally gets me standing. "Woah, take it easy!"

I feel his hands try to pull me back again. But my mind is racing. I'm finally understanding what's really going on.

"Link what are you _doing_? Get back!" Zelda's at my side, also attempting to pull me away.

I ignore her and get my face as close to the rift as I dare. The surface of it shimmers, the reek of black magic is incredible. I move closer until finally I can again see through it. And there on the other side is the Other Me. Only I've turned away. I'm showing my hand to someone else, someone taller and almost larger than life. He looks up, towards the rift. I can't tell if he sees me or not, but the look on Ganondorf's face can only be that of assured victory.

Then I notice my senses slipping away from me and realize my head feels like it's going to explode. I allow myself to be pulled back from the hole. Zelda's face swims in front of me as I lose my grip on consciousness.

**xxx**

When I come to, I'm lying in my bed. For a moment, I'm disoriented as a new day shines through my window. How long has it been since… wait, what even happened? My confusion only worsens when Fado appears above me.

"Ah! Master Link! You're awake. Good. Would you like some breakfast?" He seems awfully chipper as he holds out a tray of bread and cheese to me. I sit up slowly, brushing him aside. My head hurts. Fado leans in looking concerned. "Is something wrong, Sir?"

"Um…" I look over at him. He's here, beside my bed. Offering me food. He's not dead. But then I'm not sure he had the chance to be. Was it all a dream? It has to have been. There's no way he'd be this calm if a hole to hell had opened up in the courtyard. "I don't know." I think for a second. "What day is it?"

"Uh oh," he says setting the tray down on a nearby table. "Stay right here, Master Link." And then he runs out of the room.

Now I really have no idea what's happening. Or what happened. But I do know one thing. I'm hungry. I lean over to the tray and tear off a hunk of bread. I don't notice until I'm halfway through it that it's a little stale. As in not fresh. I don't mind really, but given the care with which my servants usually take for me, it's a little out of the ordinary.

The door swings open. Fado's returned, with a whole entourage of people I don't know. But I recognize their healer's robes. What in Din's name happened to me?

They descend on me at once, forcing me back to my pillow, asking me silly questions like what my name is and examining every part of my head until I'm sure they could sculpt it blind folded. And they take away my bread. After about a minute, I can't take it anymore and I fight my way back into a sitting position. "WHAT HAPPENED?" I yell at them repeatedly until someone finally steps forward.

It's Zelda. She looks more haggard than I've seen her in years. "Then you don't remember?"

"Remember _what_?" I demand. Then I notice the other people hanging around in the background. My cook and her assistants. My tailor. Fado. The stableman. The Captain of the Guard. And several soldiers I know I don't employ, all looking very worried.

I sink back onto my bed. "So that was real. I couldn't tell. Fado was so… normal… My guards are dead. The Rift. Has anything else come out of it? Wait, no, Fado, come here."

Cautiously he approaches the bed. I grab him when he gets close enough and hug him to me for a moment. "Sir?" he asks, unable to keep the concern from his voice.

I let go of him so I can look at him. "I was worried. The guards… they knew serving me could mean death. But not you. I didn't think you were ready for that."

"No. But I am now."

He steps back to make room for Zelda as she sits down next to me. She still looks unconvinced I'm okay. "I'm fine, Zel. Just dazed. It happens."

Then I realize she's going to slap me. "_You_ were worried? About him? What about yourself? What were you _thinking_?"

I recoil from her, but she doesn't hit me. She just stares at me, like I've got two heads. What _was_ I thinking? Oh. Other Me. Right. "Well when I accidentally tore the rift open further, for some reason I could see through for a bit. I'm going to go ahead and guess that none of you saw me on the other side? Missing my fingers?"

I probably should have waited until they'd all deemed me of sound mind before mentioning that. The healers try to swoop in again, but Fado, standing in their way, fends them off. Of course he'd believe me with absolutely no proof. I vaguely wonder if this what he meant by being ready.

"Ah. That's what you were talking about," the Captain says. He's the only other person in the room besides Fado who isn't looking at me like I've completely lost it. The healers stop trying to advance on me long enough to give him a chance to speak. "I wondered why you'd asked me if I'd seen the rift expand, as I obviously had since I saved you from it. You meant what you'd seen _in_ the rift. Well to answer your question, no, I didn't."

All eyes turn back to me. Zelda looks more perturbed than ever. Choosing my words more carefully this time, I explain what I saw. The other me. How it had been him who had grabbed Zelda. When I looked again and saw him talking to Ganondorf. How he'd look so pleased.

"So whatever it was that we did when we came here, I think we played right into his hands," I finish. A familiar silence settles over the room.

Zelda gets up and paces back and forth. The Captain sputters a bit as he tries to get her attention. I just wait, knowing she's unreachable until she's completely exhausted every thought she has on the matter. I help myself to the rest of my breakfast.

Just as the Captain gives up, she seems to come out of it. "So," she starts, addressing pretty much only me. "The rift, the wind that happened when it appeared, it wasn't meant to catch you and kill you. It was meant to get your attention. Which means that Ganon isn't capable of fully opening this rift on his own. He needs help from you, probably when you try to destroy it."

"Okay, so I won't. Done."

"Ah, but he would have expected that. So the damage is _already_ done. What tearing you've caused by now was probably enough. The question is, what will his next move be? And when?"

A thought occurs to me as I try to wrap my head around Zel's strategy puzzle. "This doesn't make any sense. What does he need this portal in the middle of my front yard for? Aren't there seven portals elsewhere that he could theoretically be sneaking through without anyone noticing?"

She stops pacing to cast me an annoyed look. I've upset her train of thought, but I don't really care. I feel my question is pretty valid.

"Maybe that's the purpose of the rift being here? To distract us?" one of the guards offers. I can't tell, but I think it's Balik. He seems oddly on top of things.

"No, those portals were sealed decades ago. It seems since Ganon can't use them, he's making one of his own." She resumes pacing.

"Except that I've seen those other portals," I interject again. "They're little flat discs of light on the ground, not great black holes hanging in the air."

She stops again and throws her hands up in the air in frustration. "And if you remembered your history lessons, you'd know the ancient portals were created by the goddesses as a means to reach the Sacred Realm. All Ganondorf has is black magic and a sole piece of the Triforce. Of course his attempt would turn out different!" She forcibly goes back to pacing, determined to not be interrupted again.

"Oh." I go back to eating my cheese, feeling somewhat snubbed. Sometimes I don't know why I bother trying to keep up with her. Especially if she's just going to snap at me.

**xxx**

An hour and a few more arguments later finds us outside in my yard again, trying not to look directly at the rift but watch it intently at the same time. The only conclusion we could come to was that Ganny's up to something. Well duh. Still feeling a little dizzy, I keep my distance from the hole. I can't help but notice everyone else is pretty much doing the same thing though. Well except for our brilliant Queen. She's poking around the base of it, trying to determine what to do about it.

I think for the first time that I can remember we've swapped places. I'm more concerned with what the motivations and purpose of it are whereas she's all about doing something to stop it. Usually it's the other way around. Still, when it comes down to it, I have a feeling I'll be the one doing the doing. So I settle myself into a corner and wait, something I've had far too much practice in lately.

As I watch Zelda poke and prod, I almost don't notice the Captain until he's sitting down next to me.

"So, have you noticed?" he asks.

"Noticed what?" I respond flatly. I'm really not in the mood to deal with him.

He indicates the ground in front of us. "The grass," he states simply.

So I look at the grass, not expecting to find much. I was pretty intimate with it last night, after all. It takes me a few seconds to see what he's talking about. But when I do, I'm on my feet walking circles around the rift.

I obviously catch Zelda's attention. "What are you doing?" she demands, rolling her eyes.

I've tested her patience enough for one day already. So rather than take the opportunity to be vague like Mr. Intentionally Ambiguous over there, I settle for the straight answer. "The grass. It's dying. By the time I get all the way around, another inch out from the hole has withered."

"That's not all," the Captain adds. "Remember the cutting wind that, well, attacked them? I found blood outside, where the kid took refuge. But there's none here." Oh of course, he'll lay it all out for Zelda, but not for me. Even though, ya know, she's got the Triforce of _Wisdom_. She's smarter than the rest of us put together probably. "How many men did you have stationed on the wall?" he asks me.

Setting my irritability aside, I stop circling and think for a moment. "A dozen maybe. At least eight. And the bandits adds another five or six."

"So about 15 people were out here, bleeding, but leaving no trace of it?"

Zelda stands up slowly and moves back from the rift. She's suddenly much more afraid of it than she was two seconds ago. "It feeds on life. Ganondorf doesn't need to sustain it, it can survive on it's own. Those that died in the initial tearing… if there had been more people here…"

And a horrible realization suddenly comes to me. "But there are. Right now." I grab Zelda and jerk her further from the hole. "We need to leave here. It's not just feeding on the grass, it's slowly killing us too."

"The headaches," she says in immediate comprehension. Together we back away from the gaping hole, towards my castle.

"Well we can't _not_ be near it," the Captain exclaims as we drift away. "Someone's going to have to stay here to keep an eye on it. And that should be you, _Hero_." The way he says that grates on my nerves. "Ganondorf could waltz through at any moment."

"Good, maybe he'll dance a jig with me. But I'd rather not be brain dead when that happens." I all but shove Zel into the reception hall. "You're welcome to stay," I add before disappearing inside.

Zelda's collapsed in a chair. But as I reach her, she's already a million miles away and mumbling to herself. I leave her be, knowing when she needs me she'll call for me.

I go back to the entrance and hear some confusion on the lawn and a bit of yelling. But in the end everyone, even the esteemed Captain, follows us inside. It's not far enough, though. I can still feel a slight pressure behind my eyeballs and a tiredness in my joints I didn't notice before.

"So now what?" the Captain asks irritably.

"Now we remain calm," I say, pointing to a group of his men who seem to be on the verge of sinking into a crazed stupor. I guess Zel and I have a lot of experience when it comes the unnatural. The Captain, all things considered, is rolling with it pretty well. Neither of us should have expected his men too. And there's not quite anything like an unstoppable force slowly leeching one's life away to make a man panic.

Shame flashes across the Captain's face for a second but then he's shouting for them to form up. All professionalism, he reassures his men that the Queen has everything under control. Their main priority is not dealing with the rift, that's solely my responsibility I guess, but protecting the Queen and the civilians. For some reason it irks me that he didn't extend the protection to me too, even though I don't want it anyway.

"Understood?" he calls.

There's a moment of silence as the men straighten their backs, regain their confidence, and prepare to shout back. And in that moment we all hear the most ominous rumble I've ever heard in my life. I don't wait to see what this new development does to the guards' moral. Sword in hand, I dash outside.


	3. The Beginning of the End

_**Author's Notes**_

_Augh, this is seriously getting ridiculous. Why couldn't I have just been like: Ganon starts shit. Link and Zel are like NUH UH, I don't think so! And then oh damn, well okay. The End._

_Also, drama. Just a bit._

**- Chapter Three: The Beginning of the End -**

As I round the backside of the rift, I fully expect to come face to face with either the Other Me or Ganondorf himself. I'm slightly disappointed, but admittedly relieved, when it's neither. Just a handful of moblins trying to regain their balance. As I jump forward to cut them down, I realize why they're on their knees still and also where the rumbling is coming from. The air around the rift is vibrating violently, so much so that it's no longer porous. As I bounce off of it, I note unhappily that it's neither weighing on me nor slicing me. Meaning this is a new thing. Great.

Staggering to my feet, I watch as more moblins claw their way through the rift. But I can't get to them. One finally manages to gain its feet and stumbles forward. When it reaches the edge of the shaking air, which I notice is also where the dead grass ends, it can't seem to move forward anymore. Well alright, so they can't get to me either. I guess that's fair.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn to find Zelda standing next to me. Oddly enough she's wearing the same face she gets when she talks about the Zoras and the Gorons. I look back at the moblins, some of which have stopped struggling to stand and are just laying on the ground. Her pity seems to be directed at them.

"Are they… _dying_?" the Captain shouts over the noise.

"I think so!" Zelda shouts back. "Ganondorf must be sacrificing them to further open the rift!"

Oh. That makes sense. He would do that. Good thing I had the presence of mind to get the hell away from it. But as I look back at the hole, and feel the headache race down my spine all the way to the balls of my feet, I notice that the dying monsters don't seem to be making it any bigger. If anything, it looks more unstable, but I can't tell if that's just the air around it or the thing itself.

The last moblin finally collapses onto the pile and the shaking subsides somewhat. But the air still hums and the pounding in my skull and joints is worse than ever.

"Well, that's that then," I say and start back towards the castle. I don't even make it a step when one of my knees gives out and I stumble forward. Zelda's there, trying to help me up, but I notice she's not looking much better.

Several pairs of hands help both us back inside. The healers appear and fuss over us for a bit but they can't seem to figure out what's wrong with us.

Finally, Zelda waves them away. "There's nothing you can do. We're just dying, that's all." She says it so matter of factly.

"But why you, your Majesty? Why is it affecting you so much?" one of them asks helplessly. Zelda just shrugs.

"Because we've gotten the closest to it," I respond. "I mean, for Din's sake, I stuck my face in it yesterday." Knowing that doesn't seem to make them feel any better about not being able to help their Queen.

Zelda sags into me. "How do we stop this?" she asks. I feel like it's a rhetorical question. If she doesn't know, how am I suppose to? But she looks up at me with tired eyes, waiting for an answer.

"Sorry, I'm all answered out. Come back in an hour," I respond wearily.

As we sit in one of the oversized, plush chairs in the entrance hall, I realize I've never really sat in them before. And whether because I ache all over or because Zelda's squished into it next to me, I decide it's the most comfortable chair in the world.

Since it's clear we're not moving, for awhile anyway, the Captain makes the executive decision to have lunch. He does his thing where he orders people around, which mostly just culminates in a rotation of guards at the entrance. I watch without really watching. Food's brought to us. More stale bread and cheese. Distantly, I wonder what happened to my servants. Hopefully they were evacuated.

Then there's more rumbling. The Captain orders some men outside to keep an eye on it. They probably hesitated for a bit, because over the rumbling I think I can hear him yelling at them.

As I eat, I feel slightly rejuvenated. Which is good, because we can't just sit here. We have to do something. "Hey." I nudge Zelda.

"Hmm?" She sounds like she was sleeping.

"Why don't we fight fire with fire?"

"What?" she asks, sitting up and rubbing her face. "How would being near the rift when the moblins come through help?"

"Huh? No. I mean using magic," I reply. She stares blankly at me. I don't think her nap did her as much good as my food did, so I hand her some bread. "We need to cut off the rift's life supply somehow. And the only way I see to do that is to cast a spell of our own on it. Maybe reverse it so it feeds from the other side?" I start to just think out loud as Zelda nibbles on her bread. "Or maybe kill everything close to it on this side and seal the area off. Block up the front of it so there's no where for the moblins to land when they come through."

"I thought of that, blocking it up," she says. Of course she did. "But I didn't think that would work, especially not after witnessing the air move like that. There's no telling what it could do to a stone wall over time. Forget building it in the first place. But turning it inside out? That's not a bad idea. Then again I don't think either of us has enough strength to oppose Ganon on such an intimate level. You know he'd fight back."

"So we do it together."

She purses her lips at me. "I meant _together_ we wouldn't have the strength. We're dying, remember?"

Suddenly the rumbling stops. At least I think it does. It's hard to tell, there's still so much sound coming from outside. But it feels like the ground's quit shaking. I help Zelda up and we wander towards the entrance. The guards didn't come back.

The first thing I notice when I step outside is that my aches increase tenfold. Then I see the rift. Even not having been out here to witness it, it's easy to tell it has grown twice the size. The ground underneath it has started to deteriorate into nothingness. The remains of the monsters have mostly disappeared, probably absorbed by the hole when it expanded. There's only bits of them left, a hand here, a leg there. The deep humming is now definitely coming from the rift itself. We help each other over to where the guards have congregated. At least they're okay.

As we push our way into the circle, Zelda starts to ask what happened. But she doesn't even get a word out. In the middle of the men lies a woman with flaming red hair and very brown skin, like she's spent too much time in the sun. Her wild eyes lock on me the instant I see her. Something about her cold stare roots me to the spot. But her breathing is ragged. She looks far worse than me and Zelda.

"They came out of the rift," Balik explains.

"They?" I choke out. She's still staring at me, unblinkingly, like I'm the sole cause of her suffering.

"Yes, there were others. But they… didn't survive. We managed to pull her out before it ended. I don't think she's going to last long though."

"She's Gerudo!" Zelda breathes next to me.

Her statement tickles something in my memory. "…King of the Gerudo. But wouldn't that make her one of Ganon's people?"

Zelda nods. "Yes, I suppose so. But it's said his people were completely destroyed in the First War."

"Well obviously not." But that does explain why she's staring at me like that. Somehow she recognizes me as the Hero of Time, her mortal enemy. Then something clicks into place in my brain. "Wait. Ganondorf pushed those moblins through, effectively killing them. But that didn't expand the rift. Now he sacrifices his own people and for some reason it does work?"

Zelda leans down and gently brushes a stray hair out of the woman's face, earning her the privilege to be stared at next. The Gerudo starts to move her mouth up and down, like she's trying to talk, but no sound comes out. Zelda hushes her by putting her fingers to the woman's lips. "I think the life force of the moblins is no different than the black magic he used to create the rift. After all they're just monsters, created by Ganondorf. But the Gerudo are real people, _he_ was born to _them_. Well … I think. Weren't they all women?" She scrunches up her face as she tries to remember.

That's ancient lore, what happened before the First War. Before Ganondorf had touched the Triforce, back when he was just a man. I've scarcely heard bits and pieces of it from Zelda herself. Only the royal family is allowed to touch the decaying scrolls that tell the story. But there's not much left for her to read. She admitted to me once most of what she 'knows' is only guesswork paired with what little is left and a few tales that have been passed down verbally through the ages. Hardly much to go on.

As we watch, the Gerudo's breaths become more ragged, coming in short gasps. She starts moving her mouth again, locking her gaze to mine.

_Help them_, she mouths at me. And then she stops moving all together.

**xxx**

I try several times to assist in burying the Gerudo woman. But every time the guards shoo me away, kindly reminding me that I shouldn't overexert myself as I've had the most exposure to the rift. But it's plain to see that it's starting to take a toll on them too.

After about the fifth attempt, I give up and return to where Zelda sits in the entrance hall. As I approach I'm surprised that I can hear her seriously discussing something with someone. Two someones. She usually only does that with me. As I round the corner, one looks like Balik. Then my surprise turns to distress when I see the other is Fado. Why didn't he leave?

"Oh! There you are." Zelda beckons me. But she doesn't make eye contact. "Come, we have things to discuss." She pats the chair next to her.

As I sit down, I catch Fado's eye. He grimaces, since he obviously knows what's coming. "I thought I ordered you to leave with the rest of the household. What are you still doing here?"

"I'm doing my duty, Sir," he answers.

"Yes, and he's been most helpful," Zelda says cheerily. It seems a bit forced. But despite my misgivings, I guess if he's somehow helped her to come up with a solution there's no way I can punish him for disobeying me. Not that I would anyway.

I settle back into the chair. "Oh? So what's up?"

"Well, I took what you said about magic and kind of ran with it," Zelda starts. There's no way Fado and Balik know anything about magic. I barely understand it myself. "And I think we've come up with a… plan of sorts." She sounds like me when I come up with a plan. That is I'm seriously grasping at straws, if I'm even thinking ahead that far. This isn't going to be good. "But you're not going to like it."

I grunt in reply. Figured as much. "Well, lay it on me. What's this great plan?"

"You agree we have to do something. Ganondorf must have other Gerudo he plans to sacrifice." I think back to what the woman was trying to tell me. This seems like the only logical explanation. But leaving them in his clutches when he's so obviously abusing them doesn't seem much like help to me. The reason she couldn't talk had nothing to do with her near death state. She had no tongue. "And we have no way of knowing how many or how few he needs to finish the rift. So we need to plug it up, _now_, like you said. The only problem is, we don't have the strength to do so. And Nayru knows we're not going to go pass through it and fight him on his own terms."

"Yea, I know. We've been over this," I say impatiently.

Balik chimes in. "So you need help. Other mages."

"And that's where we come in, Master Link," Fado adds. "Because we're, um… well we're Sheikah." He pauses, looking guilty. "T-That's why I was chosen by her Majesty to watch over you."

Before my brain can even move on to the fact that Zelda may have lied to me, I'm stuck on the image of him getting lost repeatedly in the woods. Fado? A Sheikhan? This does not compute.

Zelda watches me for a moment, trying to gauge how I'll react. When I remain stone-faced, she launches on. "Anyway, as Sheikah they have a rudimentary understanding of magic, even if they can't wield it themselves. Not being Triforce Bearers and all. So the plan is to gather as many Sheikah as we can in the next few hours and then give them the ability to wield magic. Together I'm sure we'll triumph over Ganondorf, just like in the old days when there were sages still."

But I don't really hear her. I'm too absorbed in my own thoughts.

Fado didn't misunderstand Zelda's orders. _I_ did. And as much as I'm trying not to let it do so, because there isn't time for this, I'm wounded. There are never secrets between us. None. I told Zelda from square one I loved her and I was going to marry her. And she told me no, that I couldn't be the Hero of Time and the King of Hyrule at the same time. She didn't hide it from me that she'd already picked a king. And he wasn't me.

But she kept me in the loop. She told me about every little thing that happened. I was practically the first to know everything. I even knew before he did that Zelda was pregnant with his child. She apparently didn't keep any secrets about us from him either. Not even when he was laying on his death bed and could have probably died happier had he not known. But he deserved to, so she told him.

Maybe that's when the secrets started. Whenever I would visit after that, she'd send her son away. She didn't want him to know how close we were. Since I could never be the boy's father, she didn't want to confuse him I suppose. He'd been so young when his real father had died, after all.

But she never lied to _me_. At least I thought not. How many other secrets has she kept from me? In the grand scheme of things, my pride is of little importance. Fado secretly being my own insanely talented bodyguard isn't of much consequence.

When I come back from my thoughts, they're all staring at me.

But then, as if she can read my mind, Zelda answers my unspoken questions. "There aren't any others. Just this. I was weary after… after everything. I didn't want to fight you on it. But I couldn't lose you too. No, I _especially_ couldn't lose you. It allowed me to move on, to know you would always be safe."

We stare into each other's eyes. She's telling the truth. I need to let this go. She's probably right anyway. But I don't think I can. So I bury it deep inside. Not now. There's no time. Ganondorf comes first. Then I can get mad at her. And we can yell and scream and refuse to see things from the other's point of view. Finally she'll shut me out of her life until I'm begging for her let me back in.

I break our gaze and look back at Fado. He shifts nervously from foot to foot. "So… what was this plan again?" I ask, trying to get my brain back on track.

Zelda leans back and releases a relieved, if troubled, sigh.

"We gather all the Sheikah we can, give them the skill of magic, and close the rift," Balik answers simply. He seems unfazed by all the drama.

"Oh." It's hard to concentrate. I have to mull over his words for a few moments. When I finally comprehend what he just said, I think I must have heard wrong. "Wait, _what_? 'Give them the skill of magic'? What is that suppose to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like," Zelda states. "All trained Sheikah have a basic understanding of magic, to enable them to effectively fight it. So I'm going to fill in their gaps of knowledge for them."

She seems determined to confuse me today. "What! In a single afternoon? Has my house suddenly become the one and only _Magical Training for Sheikhans: A Crash Course_?" I pause for a second. "I don't have to attend, do I? Can I sleep through it?"

But Zelda's just dropped her head into her hands, like she always does when I'm purposefully being difficult. "Ugh, _no_ Link," she says through her hands. "Remember what I said? _We_ can use magic because we hold the Triforce."

She patiently waits for me to put two and two together, but for _some_ reason I'm refusing think it through, refusing to cooperate. And for some reason, she won't just tell me.

Footsteps echo in the hall. A guard appears at my shoulder. "They're beginning to arrive, your Majesty."

"Direct them to the rear gardens." Without a word to me, she rises and retreats into my castle.

I glare after her. I shouldn't be this angry. She just wanted a safety net for me. To help me. Din, I'm almost as bad at burying things as letting them go.


	4. The Last Battle

_**Author's Note**_

_Oh god the drama! Link, why are you turning into such a drama-llama? Stop that! Also, I may have lied earlier. There's a bit of lovey-dovey. And possibly some tearjerking._

_This chapter marks the end of this little adventure. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Comments are extremely appreciated. :]_

**- Chapter Four: The Last Battle -**

It takes less than three hours for all the local Sheikah to gather at my castle. In that time, Ganondorf has twice more sent through a handful of Gerudo women. I haven't gone near the rift since it first expanded. I can only imagine how ridiculously large it must be now.

So I focus on the scene unfolding before me. From my vantage point, hanging out my bedroom window, I can see that you'd never be able to tell these people are Sheikah. Most of them are so plain. Not even half of them bear the distinctive red eyes, Fado and Balik among those.

Since Zelda left me to stew, I haven't said a word to her. I haven't even been in her company for more than five minutes. She's busy doing her thing anyway. When Fado brought me dinner, he was fidgeting so badly I thought he was going to break his own wrists. He thinks I'm being childish. Maybe I am. I sent him away.

As the last of those that were called assemble, I can see Zelda's getting nervous. I refuse to allow myself to care, settling instead on curiosity. How exactly is she going to teach 50 people in an afternoon to wield magic when she couldn't teach me after three years? And I've technically got the gift. The people fall silent as she moves to stand on an upturned crate.

Unexpectedly, Zelda looks up, directly at me. I didn't realize she knew where I was. The Sheikah begin to whisper amongst themselves and slowly turn to look up as well, to see what it is their Queen is staring at. Uncomfortable under their questioning gazes, I retreat from the window.

There's a knock at my door. "M-master Link?" It's Fado. I really don't want to talk to him. I remain silent, hoping he'll just go away. He waits a few moments and then continues. "Queen Zelda requests your presence in the gardens."

Then why doesn't she come get me herself? And then I realize why I'm so mad. This actually has nothing to do with Fado. Well it does, in that Zelda bothered to go behind my back to protect me. But the real center of this, the real stab in the back, is that she needed me enough to lie to me. But she never _told_ me she needed me. In fact, she kind of tossed me aside. She married some deadbeat as far as I was concerned. That should have been me. The kid spending a pleasant afternoon in Kakariko should be my son. Zelda did what she had to do for her people, for herself. But not for me, never for me.

"Please? She says she can't do this without you." No of course she can't. But did she ever consider the things I couldn't do without her?

I rack my brain, trying to assemble a list. But it comes up woefully short. In fact, it's not really a list so much as a single thing. Happiness. I'm never really happy unless I'm near her. But so often I go for weeks at a time without even so much as a peep from her. It's like… running up and down a flight a stairs, chasing a feather caught in the breeze. You can only do it for so long before it's ground so much of you away there's hardly anything left.

"Sir? Are you… even in there?" Just shove off already.

"Maybe he died." It's the Captain.

"That's not funny." A voice I don't recognize.

"I didn't mean it to be." A pause. "Link if you don't open this door I'm going to assume you're rolling on the rug in the throws of death. And I'm going to kick the door in."

Oh for crying out loud. I cross the room, unbolt the door, and jerk it open, wearing my best glare. The Captain returns a scowl of his own. Then he's pushing me backwards into the room, shutting the others out.

"What do you want?" I ask testily, shaking him off of me.

"I want you to get your sorry ass downstairs and support the woman you love." I turn and stump away from him, resisting the urge to plant my fist in his face. I can't believe I'm hearing this from _him_. "I don't care what it is that happened between you two, there just isn't time for it. At any moment Ganondorf could finish that portal and walk through it. And I don't have to be a doctor to know you're not fit to battle him. That cannot be allowed to happen."

I pivot back to glare at him. "Well it's not like I'm stopping her. She knows what she's doing, she can go ahead and do it. Without me. Like she always does."

The scowl drops from his face. "Is that what this is about? You're jealous of a dead man?" His clear grasp of the situation momentarily jars me from my rage. "You should count yourself lucky that she even returns your sentiments. That she relies on you so heavily."

"What?" I sputter.

"She will always do what's best for the people. That's just who she is. No matter how mad you get, or how hurt, she can't change herself." He cocks his head sideways and regards me critically. "I've come to terms with it, why can't you?"

He's come to terms with… I step back and really see him for the first time. Just a man. Fiercely loyal to his Queen. Ensuring that all the Hylian Guard remains so as well. But who cracks the whip over him? Certainly not Zelda. She hardly says two words to him a day under normal circumstances.

He continues to study me. "You've got it good, Link. She honestly loves you. She can't help it if she doesn't know how to care for you. Count your blessings instead of your bruises. You'll be much happier at the end of the day, I promise."

I can feel the fight being leeched right out of me. It's true, despite everything we've been through, our love for one another has never wavered. Which is more than I can say for her late husband. When I glance back at the Captain, I realize he loves her too. But she only acknowledges his existence as her Captain of the Guard, nothing more. Maybe he's right. I've known for a long time Zelda is incapable of giving her whole self to someone. But I've got all the best bits.

"Now get downstairs. She's waiting for you."

I try to stoke the rage in me that burned so hot a moment ago, but I can't find it. I feel like I've lost somehow. I _want_ to go downstairs, to wrap her in my arms and protect her against whatever is troubling her so much. Which is probably me.

I grab my hat and ram it onto my head. "That's better," he says, and turns to lead the way.

As I stare at the back of his head, trying to figure out how it's possible that we're so similar and yet so different, I realize something. "Hey, I… I don't think I even know your name."

He ignores me for a moment. I imagine the scowl's twisting up his face again. "It's Clyde," he says finally. Captain Clyde. That has a nice ring to it.

**xxx**

When I approach Zelda's little crate, I can see she's analyzing me. Somewhere down inside of me I'm still mad at her. I'd managed to suppress it for years though, so what difference does another day make? And who knows, maybe we'll work it out like adults later. Well, probably not.

I stop in front of the box, not stepping up to join her. This little act doesn't go unnoticed. "So, what do you need me to do?" I ask a little more coldly than I intended.

"I need you to get up here and tell me I'm making the right decision." Her voice trembles, like she's been holding back a good cry. Damnit, I did that to her didn't I?

So I climb up next to her. When I do, I'm suddenly aware again of the Sheikah, staring at us. The way they're all lined up… reminds me of a wedding. "Don't tell me you're finally going to marry me?" I joke humorlessly.

She punches me lightly in the chest and then worms her way into my arms. "No. Worse." She swallows and looks up at me. The nervousness has returned and I get the feeling it has nothing to do with me.

"Link, I'm going to shatter the Triforce of Wisdom."

She might as well have just pushed me through the rift into Ganon's waiting claws. I don't understand how that could _ever_ help us. My face must show this because the nervousness in hers has bloomed into something entirely new. I open my mouth to object, to say NO, ARE YOU OUT YOUR MIND?

But I stop. I think. She was trying to tell me this earlier, when I was all angry. What did she say? That we can use magic because we have the Triforce? But by destroying it… I'd be left to fend for myself. No I must be missing something here.

I focus on her face and try to calm myself. "And that would accomplish what, exactly?"

"Well hopefully it'll disperse itself into everyone gathered here." She gestures to the waiting Sheikah. I can't tell if they're eager or anxious. "With their pooled strength we should be able to force the rift closed."

"'Hopefully'?"

"I really don't know. But I don't see any other way out of this." She buries her face in my chest again. "Is it… the right thing to do?"

_She relies on you so heavily_. Man, Clyde wasn't kidding. I look over the sea of faces. There's Fado and Balik right at the front. Both of them are definitely eager.

I weigh our options.

If Zelda's wrong and the Triforce just disappears, we're screwed. There will be no coming back from that. There's no point in wondering if in a hundred years it'll reappear because Ganondorf will have won. I won't stand a chance against him in combat, not when I've lost so much strength to the rift already and Zelda will literally be completely helpless.

On the other hand, if Zel's right and we suddenly have 50 willing and able mages, there's a seriously good chance we'll plug up that hole for good. But then what? I doubt we'd be able to stick the Triforce of Wisdom back together.

Well considering the alternative is eternal slavery, it's a chance I'm willing to take.

"Yes. Do it."

Slowly she unravels herself from me and faces the crowd. Holding her hands out in front of her, she calls the Triforce of Wisdom into a visible state. I didn't know you could do that. Focusing her entire body, she seems to press into it without actually touching it.

For a moment, nothing happens. Then like the shattering of glass, the Triforce of Wisdom explodes in a delicate shower of blue twinkling lights. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. They hang in the air for a split second and then fade into nothingness.

Suddenly Zelda's collapsing into my arms. She's completely still. This was not something I considered. Instant death. I am not ready for this. I panic, pulling her down from the crate with me to lay her on the ground. I barely notice the score of people that gather around us as I try to pump life back into her still form.

This can't be happening. I didn't even get the chance to apologize. _No, Farore please_!

And then she's gasping underneath me, trying to catch her breath. I scoop her up and hug her to me, not realizing that it probably doesn't help her at all. She weakly pushes against me until I let her go so she can breath.

"Did it… did it work?" she gasps.

In answer Balik squats down next to her. In his hand he holds a small blue flame. It casts a faint glow onto Zelda, illuminating her with life. Now _that_ is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I brush him aside and scoop her again, smothering her with kisses.

"Ahem." Captain Clyde's standing over us. "Don't you have to go save the world or something?"

Oh alright. Still holding her tightly, I carry Zelda through my castle back out to the courtyard. The Sheikah silently follow, although the blue glow behind me continues to grow in intensity until all of them are probably holding a flame of their own. It seems fitting.

When I step into the light again, I have to set Zelda down. The drain from the rift is too much. I can barely walk on my own. Hands come forward to help us.

Zelda orders everyone into a circle around the rift. But even standing an arm's length apart, there aren't enough of us to completely surround it. Although there's plenty of space for us. The rift has demolished most of the outer wall and face of the castle. We've waited to long to do this. As I gaze around the circle, taking in their faces, I realize the Sheikah aren't the only ones standing to support us. Clyde's there, and his men.

And then more people start appearing. Farmers. Wanderers. Soldiers. Bandits. Just regular folk. Silently they take their place in the circle until there's easily over a hundred of us. I turn a questioning gaze to Zelda. "I guess the Triforce touched more than just the Sheikah," she answers. "It looks like everyone in about a mile's radius around here was-"

Rumbling. The ground and the air shake violently. I can't hear anything anymore, the rift is so loud. I lock hands with Zelda on my left and Fado on my right, to steady myself as much as anything. Around the circle, everyone does the same.

As I focus all of my attention on the rift, I realize that I _get_ magic. It's not a struggle. It makes complete sense, as easy as breathing. Time to close this hell hole. The rumbling continues. Through the rift I can clearly see an enraged Ganondorf. It looks like he was preparing to step through. Whelp, no time like the present to fix the fabric of the world. I bend all of my thought towards one goal: shutting him out.

I can't help but yell in excitement a little when the rift begins to shrink. But the trembling of the ground increases. There's a roar in my ears that wasn't there before. I recognize a crushing darkness bearing down on me. He must be fighting back. The shrinking slows down, but it continues. We're beating him back!

And then I can't stand anymore, but not because of the pressure or the shaking. It takes all of my concentration to ignore my body as it screams in pain. Zelda's down beside me, struggling to remain even kneeling. The glow of life is gone, she looks absolutely ghastly. I know I must look the same.

To open the rift, Ganon murdered. To close the rift, we must die. It's as simple as that.

I squeeze Zelda's hand, getting her to look at me. _I'm sorry,_ I mouth at her. _For everything_.

She squeezes back. _Me too_.

**xxx**

The bandit boy ambled around the edge of Castle Town, having been released after the Queen departed. At first he'd wandered aimlessly, just taking in the sites. It'd been years since he'd set foot here. By next morning, he was making good on his heritage. He'd stolen all three of his meals and even a gold necklace. Of course, the shopkeep had noticed and set the guards on him. But he was too fast for 'em.

Now he was eyeing a similar stand, littered with small jewels. They looked cheap, possibly fakes. But the merchant was an old man and wouldn't even notice. Totally worth the nonexistent risk. He waited until a woman approached and started to chat up it up before sliding up next to the table. He reached out slowly, so as to not catch the geezer's attention.

Suddenly there was yelling and people were running. The boy grabbed the biggest gem there and melted into the crowd, lost in his excitement. But as he was jostled along, he became distracted, wondering where everyone was going in such a hurry.

Then the crowd halted at the edge of town, on a hillside facing north, and he got his first look at what those taller had seen from the streets.

They sky was black and billowing. It was like no storm he'd ever seen. It seemed to be gathering over a castle set in the fields. Hero's Castle. Even from here, he could hear the roaring of it. And then all at once, it stopped. The darkness was contained completely above the castle. Not a sound, not a stir.

And as the people watched, it exploded. Sweeping over the fields towards them came a terrible force, knocking everyone to the ground. Chaos ensued. People scrambling to find loved ones. Soldiers pounding down the road, towards the castle. Dogs howling.

When the boy finally escaped the disorder, taking refuge behind a house, he ventured a look back north. Rubble from the castle stretched for at least a mile around the crumbling walls. But that's all there was within that mile. No plants. No animals. Not even the withered stubble of grass.

Just death.


End file.
